Origins and Rise to Power

The Rakata species originated on the planet Lehon, a temperate terrestrial world in the Unknown Regions. Many years before 36,453 BBY, the Kwa—a Force-sensitive reptilian species from the planet Dathomir—arrived on Lehon, the homeworld of the Rakata species, via their Infinity Gate technology that allowed the Kwa to travel instantaneously across the galaxy. As they had done on many worlds before, the Kwa became the Rakata's benefactors, teaching them about the Force and giving them advanced technology. Around this time, the Celestials, themselves the backers of the Kwa and then the dominant galactic power, also made the Rakata one of their slave races. However, the Kwa were horrified to realize that Rakata were a cannibalistic race that ignored the Kwa teachings of balance, drawing only on the dark side of the Force. Pairing their aggression and desire for conquest with the Kwa technology, the Rakata expanded out from Lehon and began to conquer other worlds in the Unknown Regions. The establishment of their Infinite Empire saw it being centered around their homeworld of Lehon, and they used Force-based hyperdrives to travel to worlds with strong Force signatures.

The Infinite Empire, as the Rakata called themselves, targeted worlds that were rich with the Force, which they conquered and then enslaved their populations. The Rakata developed technology that allowed them to induce fear and hatred in Force-sensitive beings, and they used the Force-sensitives slaves among the populations they conquered to fuel their warships and technology by placing them in machines that converted the slaves' dark side emotions into energy. Desiring the Kwa's Infinity Gate technology, they turned on their benefactors when the Kwa refused—and in the resultant battle on Lehon, many Kwa died holding off the Rakatan warriors so that they could destroy the gate on Lehon.
Though the exact circumstances of the Infinite Empire's rise to dominance were lost by 0 BBY, Pre-Republic specialists like Doctor Insmot Bowen generally accepted that the Rakata made war upon the Celestials and fought to exterminate them. Building an enormous space station known as the Star Forge over the star Abo in the Lehon system—a factory powered by the dark side that produced warships and technology for the empire—the Rakata spread out over the Unknown Regions and into the eastern galaxy by 35,000 BBY.

Some hypotheses over the hyperspace turbulence west of the Galactic Core that later stopped Republic exploration of the Unknown Regions claimed that it was created by the Celestials in an effort to hold back the upstart Rakata. Despite the best efforts of the Celestials, in time, their influence declined at the hands of the Rakata. The ancient grimoires of the Gree Enclave recorded that the Rakata, whom they identified as the "Soul Hunters", unleashed curses on the Celestials, which they called the "Gray Swallowing" and the "Faceless Mouths", and further referred to them as the "Hollowers of Beings" and the "Eaters of Worlds". By 33,600 BBY, the Celestials had vanished from the galaxy and the Infinite Empire had taken center stage.


Infinite Empire

At its zenith, the Infinite Empire linked over five hundred Force-rich worlds all across the galaxy. Their extensive civilization was spread across countless star systems and was much larger than later-era empires. Through the use of dark side-fueled technologies such as Force-powered hyperdrive, the Builders' Infinite Empire dominated known space for thousands of years. Many of the most prominent worlds of the galaxy were included in this empire, such as, Corellia, Honoghr, Generis, Hijarna, Xo, and Dantooine falling under their dominion. However, their hyperdrives could only visit worlds possessing strong force signatures, resulting in huge voids in between their conquered worlds. The haphazard nature of their empire allowed for numerous other civilizations to flourish, and loose confederacies of other civilizations managed to develop in the spaces between Rakatan worlds through the use of dangerous as well as unpredictable hyperdrive technology.

Being a war-like and cruel race, the great danger posed by the Rakata was the fact that they were strong in the Force along with being technologically advanced. They were known to enslave or wipe out every civilization they encountered. They were also known to have had been both cruel and manipulative masters of those they enslaved. At its height, the Empire's population numbered ten billion Rakatan warriors and one trillion slaves. Among its conquests were the Selkath of Manaan, Wookiees of Kashyyyk, Kumumgah of Tatooine, Noghri of Honoghr, Humans of Coruscant, and the natives of the Corellian sector. By transporting these slave species to new worlds, the Rakata were believed to have inadvertently seeded swaths of the galaxy with sentient life. Furthermore, they made use of Coruscanti workers and Corellian slaves to create weapons of colossal scale. On Mygeeto millennia ago, beautiful crystal formations were shaped by slaves of the Infinite Empire to commemorate a long-forgotten victory. At its peak, nearly five hundred conquered worlds paid tribute to the Rakata Infinite Empire.

The forest world of Kashyyyk was one world captured by the Empire, and the Rakata installed a terraforming computer on the planet to manipulate Kashyyyk's wroshyr trees. However, the computer lost contact with the Rakata in 33,598 BBY, and over two hundred years later it malfunctioned, causing a hyper-acceleration in the growth of the wroshyrs. When the Rakata encountered Dathomir, the homeworld of the Kwa, they brutally subjugated the world in revenge for the Kwa's destruction of their Infinity Gates across the galaxy, and as a result the Kwa eventually devolved into the simpleminded Kwi lizards. According to the beliefs of the Nightsisters, the usage of the Kwa Infinity Gates created unnatural voids and wounds to Dathomir that saw the Spirits call the Infinite Empire to the planet. Their arrival decimated the Kwa who were transformed into an animal state by the action of the Spirits.

Intrigued by the enormous rancors native to Dathomir, the Infinite Empire transported a number of them back to Lehon as curiosities, and they also succeeded in driving the Gree—another spacefaring species at the time—all the way back to their home cluster. The Infinite Empire introduced a rancor to the planet Gamorr, where it became a mythological creature in the culture of the native Gamorreans. The Infinite Empire turned the planet Belsavis into a prison world, using stasis technology to entomb monsters, warlords, and other powerful entities. The first prisoner of Belsavis—and the reason the prison was constructed—was the World Razer, a mysterious being whose hunger supposedly consumed a thousand worlds. According to inscriptions in the Tomb, which was the Galactic Republic's term for the primary Rakatan prison complex, it took the entire Infinite Empire to subdue the World Razer.

At some unknown point, the Infinite Empire came under threat from a marauding horde of aliens known as the Esh-kha. These aliens raided world after world where they destroyed their inhabitants before continuing their campaign. Such actions led to the loss of several Rakatan slave worlds to the Esh-kha before the Infinite Empire assembled its military might to challenge this threat. The Rakata hated the Esh-kha and referred to them as a plague on the galaxy due to their actions. The resultant conflict engulfed the entire galaxy and led to the near extinction of the Esh-kha. Only a hundred thousand survivors lived by the time the Infinite Empire won the war with these remaining Esh-kha being imprisoned on Belsavis where they were placed in stasis. The technology preserved the species but left them conscious with the Rakata believing that such a punishment would teach the Esh-kha the error of their ways. The reputation of the Esh-kha led to the Infinite Empire even imprisoning Hallow Voice and his peaceful Esh-kha followers on Belsavis. The great victory achieved by the Infinite Empire led to the Rakata creating a monument on the planet Hoth that contained an interactive hologram that spoke of their victory over the Esh-kha.

During their period of expansion, the Rakata encountered the Sith species of Korriban. At first, the Rakata were wary and they pretended to ally themselves with the warlord Adas, going so far as to show him how to construct the pyramidal Sith holocron. In time, Adas learned that the invaders were bent on conquest. Unifying the Sith, King Adas led a revolt against the Rakata invaders and subsequently acquired their technology as well as that of Holocrons. When the two species went to war, he managed to lead the Sith to victory and drive the Rakata from Korriban, but at the expense of his life. Though defeated, the Rakata had devastated Korriban that led to the Sith's relocation to Ziost. The actions of the Infinite Empire led to the Sith truly embracing the dark side and their conflict split the pureblooded Sith into forming a splinter cult that became convinced by their interactions with the Rakata that all sentient species were Force-sensitive. At some unknown point, a Rakata called Soa formed his own empire that was based at Korriban that served as his throne. However, the Infinite Empire later imprisoned him in the Eternity Vault on Belsavis where he became known as the Infernal One.

The height of the Rakata was reached around 25,793 BBY, when their Infinite Empire had reached its zenith. By that time, they had meddled in the ecosystems of many of the worlds under their reign ranging from Kashyyyk to Tatooine and Vagar Praxut. The surface of Kashyyyk was specifically terraformed by the Rakata for agricultural purposes. In contrast, worlds such as Duro and Morseer were stripped bare during the height of the Infinite Empire. At some point, they took control over the planet Byss that became their stronghold for exploring the forbidden reaches of the Deep Core. It was here that they would discover a powerful world deep in the Core that was thought impossible to reach.


Encounter with the Jed'aii

At the Infinite Empire's peak, the Rakata used slaves trained as Force Hounds. They were beings trained in the dark side meant to locate planets strong in the Force. Such was the case of Tatooine, located by Xesh, the servant of Predor Tul'kar. In this time the Force Hound Trill claimed to have detected a world incredibly strong in the Force, but that it was impossible to reach from the twisting lanes caused by the black holes and stars. Xesh was sent to reach this planet by Predor Skal'nas. Tython was an isolated planet with a population of trained Force-sensitives calling themselves Je'daii. The Je'daii strove to balance their actions between dark and light, lest they ignite massive Force Storms across the entire planet. Xesh made it to Tython, but his dark presence shifted the balance of the planet, causing an intense planet-wide storm. This storm both alerted the Je'daii and damaged the ship, resulting in its crash and destruction on Tython. The servant of the Rakata was the lone survivor and immediately was confronted by Je'daii.


Collapse

After generations of galactic supremacy, the Infinite Empire began to fracture and by circa 25,200 BBY the Rakatan empire imploded. Constant tensions between internal factions suddenly erupted into a devastating civil war caused by the Star Forge's corrupting influence. Already weakened by warfare, the Rakata were suddenly struck by a deadly plague that spread rapidly through their ranks and decimated the species. It was later theorized that the disease was created by a slave species because it had only infected the Builders themselves. The virulent plague nearly exterminated the Rakata and brought the Infinite Empire to its knees, yet the worst was yet to come. The Rakata suddenly and inexplicably began to lose their connection to the Force. Worse, they were unable to uncover the source of their failing sensitivity. Rakatan scientists came up with numerous speculative hypotheses to explain their worsening condition, but in the end, all of their guesses proved incorrect. In time, it would be revealed that a mysterious mutation in the plague had caused it to strip the Builders of their powers.

Thus, the rapid expansion of the Rakata came to an abrupt end when this strange plague swept through their species. Millions died as a result and those that survived had lost their connection to the Force. As the Force users were culled from the overall population at an ever increasing rate, the Rakata lost their ability to manipulate their own technology. Soon, they were forced to rely on inferior devices that were not dependent on the Force. Sensing weakness, slave species rebelled in large-scale insurrections on many member worlds and stemmed the total collapse of the Infinite Empire in 25,200 BBY. As a result of this vulnerability, the Rakata were unable to suppress the massive outbreak of violent slave rebellions and uprisings against their rule. The nearly decimated Rakata could do nothing but abandon their conquests and retreat to the safety of their homeworld of Lehon. Some Rakata castoffs survived the fall of the Infinite Empire in the Tion Cluster as late as 25,100 BBY, allowing Tion Humans access to their Force-sensitive technology.

The loss of the Force combined with facing near extinction led to the Rakata retreating to their homeworld. By this point, the Lehon system was protected by a disruptor field that could disable any incoming ship's communications and navigational systems. The field, operated from the summit of a Temple on the surface of Lehon, was originally constructed to protect the Star Forge, but it was now used to protect the Rakata themselves. On their homeworld, Rakatan civilization rapidly faded into obscurity and barbarism. On Lehon, a few thousand Rakata survivors seemingly represented all that remained of the Infinite Empire who remained on their hidden homeworld where they descended into barbarity. Their infighting amongst themselves brought the remains of their civilization to even further ruin. After the global war ended, all that remained were a number of barbaric tribes. These savage Rakata dominated their isolated homeworld for the next twenty thousand years. Some of the tribes lived contently alone deep within the jungles whilst others aggressively expanded and conquered the other tribes in an effort to unite the world under a single warlord. However, each time this occurred, a revolt would erupt among the sub-tribes and the cycle of conquest repeated itself again and again. Warlords devastated the surface of the planet with weapons of mass destruction and the majority of the Rakata were forced to flee underground. Years later, when the Rakata resurfaced, they called themselves Black Rakata, such as The One and his people. Only the descendants of the Priest Caste, the Elders tribe, remained on the surface protected by their ancient temples and enclaves. They were called Red Rakata by the other Rakata tribes. They alone would retain full knowledge of the potent technology and turbulent history of their species.

In the following centuries, the Builders were purposely erased from the records of their slave subjects and the Infinite Empire slipped from the pages of galactic history. In time, the liberated worlds destroyed the Rakata's creations and records where all trace and knowledge of them being wiped from the greater galaxy. A number of Rakata tribes in the Unknown Regions were known to have stolen whatever they were capable of carrying from the storehouses of the idle Star Forge before fleeing in advance of the nuclear war that emerged between the warrior and priest classes. These refugees would later settle a region of space that became known as the Rakatan Archipelago. A small group of Rakata remained on the prison world of Belsavis where they created an artificial intelligence called the Mother Machine which created entire species in a desperate attempt at recreating the lost Rakatan Force-sensitivity. With the collapse of the Rakata Empire, reverse engineering began on the Rakatan hyperdrives which led to a second wave of colonization that enveloped a small patch of the Core. In 12,293 BBY, an expedition to Tandun III led by Doctor Beramsh encountered a planet that was studded with ruins of ancient population centers. Beramash posited that these structures were built by the Rakata.


Remnants

The surviving Rakata devolved into barbarism and eventually forgot how to operate their own technology. More than 20,000 years after the fall of the Infinite Empire, most Rakata had only just begun to reemerge onto the surface, yet the Elders Tribe still thrived within their secluded compound. After long millennia of solitude and contemplation, the Elders desired to destroy their great factory so that they could finally put their bloody past behind them, but there was a problem. They could no longer enter their own Temple of the Ancients, the nexus of their collected knowledge and the key to accessing the Star Forge, because the Force was lost to them.

Darth Revan and Darth Malak's timely arrival in the system gave the Elders a perfect opportunity. Promising to destroy the Star Forge, Revan entered the temple, but he betrayed the Elders' trust and took the space station for himself. Around 3959 BBY, he harnessed the full power of the Star Forge and began a massive military invasion of the Galactic Republic that would culminate in the Jedi Civil War. Meanwhile, the Rakata were forced to watch their species' actions repeat themselves through Revan, powerless to stop it. Their Temple and Star Forge became the dwellings of dark side users once more. Yet Revan would return, unlooked-for, three years later and redress that betrayal. A redeemed Revan ended the Sith occupation of the Rakatan temple and deactivated the planet's disruptor field so that the Star Forge could be destroyed by a Republic fleet. He also aided the Rakata's efforts to regain their lost Force sensitivity which they believed would eventually allow them to rejoin the galactic community.

Following the destruction of the Star Forge, these Rakata joined the Galactic Republic leading to some leaving their homeworld along with their brethren behind on Lehon in order to rejoin a technologically advanced society. These travelers spread stories about their ancient society though few believed or took notice of them. By this age, there were still surviving Rakata, but the secrets of their ancient forebears and question on the collapse of their empire remained a mystery. Some believed Revan had uncovered a great deal about the Rakata, but his knowledge became lost when he departed known space. Because all records of the Infinite Empire were lost to time, some were skeptical of the notion that the seemingly primitive beings had once ruled hundreds of worlds and dominated the galaxy. Lehon's planetary population would continue to dwindle in time. This led to the Rakata of Lehon to slowly die out as there were too few to maintain their species, but the few colonies they founded on other planets after their rediscovery managed to survive. By 1000 BBY, the Rakata died out on Lehon and became extinct.